Childhood Cancer Awareness Month

The aim of the Childhood Cancer Awareness campaign is, to raise awareness of childhood cancers specifically, because they require specialist treatment (sometimes children are treated with an adapted adult protocol) and to get those specialist treatments developed research is needed, which is currently hugely and disproportionately underfunded....this is the largest cause of death in children.

The campaign shines a light on; raising awareness of the signs and symptoms to aid earlier diagnosis; the treatments, which we want to see improved and updated to be kinder; and the lifelong effects on the children and their families.

The gold ribbon is the symbol adopted by childhood cancer awareness, it represents how precious all children are, and shows our support for those yet to be diagnosed, those in treatment, those surviving and those we have lost.

It's a cause close to my heart and the hearts of my family and many friends, because in May 2014 my middle daughter, Florence was diagnosed with a rare liver cancer, she was 2 years old at the time. The disease had metastasised in her lungs and her prognosis was very poor. Over the next 7 months her little body took on huge amounts of chemotherapy and then she had massive surgery.

We spent a long time in and out of The Royal Marsden's Childrens centre in Sutton for chemotherapy, Kings College Hospital in London for specialist liver treatment and surgery and The Royal Alex in Brighton as our local shared care centre. All of these places became very familiar, even a bit like home.

Florence is now 7 years cancer and drug free (woohoo!) and we are beyond grateful that she is alive and well. We experienced first hand the brilliance of our NHS and some amazingly talented and dedicated healthcare and medical professionals who became like family. Nearly 10 years on we keep in touch with some of them, it is great to be able to let them know she is thriving and to express our ongoing gratitude. Florence is nearly 12 and has just started Year 7, she is a proper miracle and is now seen twice a year at The Alex and Kings for checks on her liver of course and her kidneys and heart, which can be damaged by chemotherapy. We are the lucky ones.

• CCLG Childrens Cancer and Leukemia Group What we do (cclg.org.uk). They are the UKs leading children's cancer charity, they bring together professionals working in the field, they are a voice to government and they fund research.
• Young Lives vs cancer previously clic sargent Young Lives vs Cancer - we'll face it all, together Clic allocated us a social worker to support us from diagnosis
• Rockinghorse Our current campaign - Rockinghorse Children’s Charity Supporting sick babies, children and young people throughout Sussex

  This local charity closely linked to the Royal Alex Children's Hospital provided us with counselling support after treatment and they are working hard to develop this important work further to offer the service during treatment and to all family members.

  If you look on their website you may see a familiar face or two, I abseiled the i360 to raise funds for the Psychotherapy service and was then invited to be parent speaker at the Rockinghorse Ball in 2019. Florence has appeared in some of their photos and videos too.

• Forward facing a lovely local charity offering families of children with long term, life limiting illness, bereavement and hardship, memory making opportunities Home - Forward Facing - Making memories and supporting families
• Chestnut Tree House Chestnut Tree House - The children's hospice for Sussex (chestnut-tree-house.org.uk) A beautiful place of safety, fun and happiness in our experience, they provide respite services for families of children with life limiting illnesses